BEHIND
Torrisdale in Kintyre rises a mountain named Ben an Tuire, the
"Hill of the Boar." It takes its name from a famous incident
of Celtic legend. There, according to tradition, Diarmid O’Duibhne
slew the fierce boar which had ravaged the district. Diarmid was of the
time of the Ossianic heroes. The boar’s bristles were poisonous, and a
rival for his lady’s love induced him to measure the hide with his
naked feet. One of the bristles pricked him, and in consequence he died.

Diarmid is said to have
been the ancestor of the race of O’Duibhne who owned the shores of
Loch Awe, which were the original Oire Gaidheal, or Argyll, the
"Land of the Gael." The race is said to have ended in the
reign of Alexander III. in an heiress, Eva, daughter of Paul O’Duibhne,
otherwise Paul of the Sporran, so named because, as the king’s
treasurer, he was supposed to carry the money-bag. Eva married a certain
Archibald or Gillespie Campbell, to whom she carried the possessions of
her house. This tradition is supported by a charter of David II. in
1368, which secured to the Archibald Campbell of that date certain lands
on Loch Awe "as freely as these were enjoyed by his ancestor,
Duncan O’Duibhne."

Who the original
Archibald Campbell was remains a matter of dispute. By some he is said
to have been a Norman knight, by name De Campo Bello. The name Campo
Bello is, however, not Norman but Italian. - It is out of all reason to
suppose that an Italian ever made his way into the Highlands at such a
time to secure a footing as a Highland chief; and the theory is too
obviously one of the common and easy and nearly always wrong derivations
of a name by mere similarity of sound. Much more probable seems a
derivation from a personal characteristic in the usual Gaelic fashion. -
In this case the derivation would be from cam beul, "crooked
mouth," in the same way as the name Cameron is derived from cam
sron, "crooked nose."

For a century and a half the MacArthurs
of Strachur, on the opposite shore of Loch Fyne, appear to have been
regarded as the senior branch of the clan. They certainly were the most
powerful, and Skene in his Highlanders of Scotland says it
is beyond question that they held the chiefship. Their claim may have
been derived through marriage with a co-heiress of the O’Duibhnes. But
with the execution of the MacArthur chief by James I. at Inverness in
1427 the Campbells were left as the chief family of the race of Diarmid.

Colin Mor Campbell of Lochow was knighted
by Alexander III. in 1380, and it is from him that the succeeding chiefs
of the race to the present day have been known as "Mac Cailean Mor."
Colin the Great himself lies buried in the little kirkyard of Kilchrenan
above the western shore of Loch Awe, where his descendant, a recent Duke
of Argyll, placed over his resting-place a stone bearing the
inscription, "To the memory of Cailean Mor, slain on the Sraing of
Lorne 13—." High on the hill ridge opposite, on the eastern side
of the loch, a cairn marks the spot at which the doughty warrior, in the
hour of victory, pursuing his enemy, MacDougall of Lorne, too far, was
overcome and fell.

It was the son of this chief, Nigel or
Neil Campbell, who, espousing the cause of Robert the Bruce, brought his
family on to the platform of the great affairs of Scottish history. He
befriended the king in his early wanderings, accompanied him in his
winter’s exile in Rachryn Island, and fought for him at Bannockburn,
and as a reward he received in marriage Bruce’s sister, the Princess
Mary or Marjorie, while the forfeited lands of David de Strathbogie,
Earl of Atholl, were settled on their second son. From that hour the
fortunes of the Campbells received hardly a check. Haying helped, at the
Bridge of Awe, to overthrow Bruce’s enemies, the powerful Lords of
Lorne and of Argyll, they proceeded piecemeal to supplant them and their
kinsmen, the MacDonalds, and secure their lands. In some cases they
compelled or induced the owners of these lands to assume the Campbell
name. Thus the Campbells of Craignish, though stated to be descended
from Dougall, an illegitimate son of a Campbell of the twelfth century,
are universally understood to have borne the name MacEachern, and to
have been a branch of the MacDonalds.

In the reign of Bruce’s son, David II.,
the next Chief of the Campbells, Sir Nigel’s son, again played an
important part. It was when the entire country was overrun by Edward
Baliol and his English supporters. Robert, the young High Stewart,
suddenly broke out of concealment in Bide, and stormed the strong castle
of Dunoon. In this enterprise, which inspired the whole country to rise
and throw off the yoke of the invader, the Stewart was splendidly helped
by Colin Campbell of Lochow. As a reward the Campbell Chief was made
hereditary governor of the stronghold, with certain lands to support the
dignity. This grant brought the Campbells into conflict with the Lamonts,
who were owners of the surrounding Cowal district, and in course of time
they supplanted them in considerable possessions — the kirk of Kilmun,
for instance, where they first begged a burial-place for a son whose
body could not be carried through the deep snows to Inveraray, and which
remains the Argyll burying-place to the present hour; also Strath Echaig
at hand, which was obtained from Robert III. as a penalty for the sons
of the Lamont Chief beating off and slaying some young gallants from the
court at Rothesay, who were trying to carry away a number of young women
of Cowal.

Colin Campbell’s grandson, another Sir
Colin, further advanced his family by marrying a sister of Annabella
Drummond, the queen of Robert III., and his son, Sir Duncan, married,
first a daughter of Robert, Duke of Albany, son of Robert II. and Regent
of Scotland, and secondly a daughter of Sir John Stewart of Blackhall,
a natural Son of Robert III. He was one of the hostages for the
redemption of James I. from his English captivity in 1424, and at that
time his annual revenue was stated to be fifteen hundred merks, a
greater income than that of any of the other hostages. A further sign of
his importance, he was made by James I. Privy Councillor, the King’s
Justiciary, and Lieutenant of the county of Argyll, and by James II., in
1445 he was raised to the dignity of a Lord of Parliament by the title
of Lord Campbell.

It was Lord Campbell’s eldest son,
Celestine, for whom a grave was begged for the Lamont Chief at Kilmun.
The second son died before his father, leaving a son, Colin, who
succeeded as second Lord Campbell, and became first Earl of Argyll,
while the third son obtained the lands of Glenurchy, formerly a
possession of the MacGregors, and founded the great family of the
Campbells of Glenurchy, Earls and Marquesses of Breadalbane.

Hitherto the seat of the Campbells of
Lochow had been the stronghold of Inchconnel, which still stands on the
island of that name, amid the waters of the loch; but Glenurchy built
for his nephew the first castle at Inveraray, which continued to be the
headquarters of the family for four centuries. At the same time, during
his absence abroad, his wife is said to have built for him, on an islet
in the northern part of Loch Awe, the strong castle of Kilchurn, which
remains to the present day one of the most picturesque features of the
Highlands. Thenceforth the history of the Campbells of Breadalbane forms
a separate and highly interesting chapter by itself.

Meanwhile the younger sons of each
generation had become the founders of other notable families. The second
son of Cailean Mor settling on Loch Tayside had founded the family of
Campbell of Lawers, afterwards Earls of Loudoun, while the fourth son
had been made by Robert the Bruce, Constable of Dunstaffnage, a post
held by his descendant to the present day, and the fifth son, Duncan, is
believed to have been ancestor of the Campbells of Inverurie, from whom
sprang the families of Kilmartin, Southall, Lerags, and others. The
third son of Sir Nigel Campbell had founded the house of Menstric, near
Stirling. The second son of Sir Colin, the hero of Dunoon, had become
ancestor of the families of Barbreck and Succoth. The second son of Sir
Colin, the fifth laird, and Margaret Drummond, was ancestor of the
Campbells of’ Ardkinglas and their branches, the houses of Ardentinny,
Dunoon, Skipnish, Blythswood, Shawfield, Dergachie, and others. And
younger sons of Sir Duncan, first Lord Campbell, became ancestors of the
Campbells of Auchenbreck, Glen Saddell, Eileangreig, Ormidale, and
others.

Colin, second Lord Campbell, in view of
his power and importance in the west, was made Earl of Argyll by James
II. in 1457. He was appointed Master of the Household of James III. in
1464. He acted as ambassador to England and France, and finally was made
Lord High Chancellor of Scotland. By his marriage also he made conquest
of another great lordship. His wife was the daughter and co-heir of John
Stewart, Lord of Lorne, and by a forced settlement with the lady’s
uncle, Walter Stewart, he obtained in 1470 a charter of the lands and
title of that lordship. Since that time the Galley of Lorne has by right
of descent from the MacDougalls of Lorne, figured in the Campbell coat
of arms. The Earl’s second son founded the house of Campbell of Lundie,
while his seven daughters made alliances with some of the most powerful
nobles and chiefs in the country.

Archibald, second Earl of Argyll, was the
leader of the vanguard of James IV.’s army at the disastrous battle of
Flodden. At the head of the Highland clans and Islesmen he made the
victorious rush with which the battle opened, but as the clansmen
scattered to seize their plunder, the English cavalry charged on their
flank, the Earl fell, and they were cut to pieces. Most notable of the
families founded by his sons was that of Cawdor, who are Earls of Cawdor
at the present time. As Justiciar of Scotland the Earl did a service to
Rose of Kilravock, for which he received the custody of Kilravock’s
granddaughter, the infant Muriel, heiress of the thanedom of Cawdor. The
messenger sent to bring the child south had to fight a battle with her
seven Cawdor uncles. Some suspicion of Campbell methods seems to have
been in the mind of the child’s grandmother, old Lady Kilravock, for
before handing her over to Campbell of Inverliver she thrust the key of
her coffer into the fire and branded her on the thigh. Afterwards, when
Inverliver was asked what he would think if the child that had cost him
so much trouble should die, he is said to have replied, "Muriel of
Cawdor will never die, so long as there is a red-haired lassie on the
shores of Loch Awe." The Earl married Muriel to his third son, Sir
John, who acquired Islay and played a considerable part in the affairs
of his time. Among other matters he stabbed in his bed in Edinburgh,
Maclean of Duart, who had exposed his wife, Cawdor’s sister, on a rock
in Loch Linnhe, to be drowned by the tide. From the second Earl
descended the families of Ardchattan, Airds, Cluny, and others, and from
his brother Donald, Abbot of Cupar, Keeper of the Privy Seal, came the
Campbells of Keithock in Forfarshire.

Colin, third Earl of Argyll, was by James
V. appointed Master of the Household, Lieutenant of the Border, Warden
of the Marches, Sheriff of Argyll, and Justice-General of Scotland. His
second son, John Gorm, who was killed at the battle of Langside, was
ancestor of the families of Lochnell, Barbreck, Balerno, and Stonefield,
and his daughter Elizabeth was the wife of the notorious Regent Earl of
Moray, half-brother of Mary Queen of Scots.

Archibald, the fourth Earl, was appointed
Justice General of Scotland by James V., and was the first person of
importance in Scotland to embrace the Protestant faith. He commanded the
Scottish right wing at the battle of Pinkie in 1547. The fifth Earl,
another Archibald, married a natural daughter of James V. His countess
was the favourite half-sister of Queen Mary, was one of the Queen’s
supper-party at Holyrood when Rizzio was murdered, and acted as proxy
for Elizabeth of England at the baptism of James VI. She and the Earl
entertained the Queen at Dunoon Castle, and the Earl was commander of
Mary’s army at the battle of Langside On that occasion, whether by
sickness or treachery at the critical moment, he caused the loss of the
battle to the Queen. He was afterwards appointed one of her lieutenants
in Scotland, was a candidate for the regency, and became Lord High
Chancellor.

His half-brother, Sir
Colin Campbell of Boquhan, who succeeded as sixth Earl, was also, in
1579, appointed Lord High Chancellor. His son, Archibald, the seventh
Earl, had a curious career. In 1594, at the age of eighteen, he was sent
by James VI. to repress the Roman Catholic Earls of Errol and Huntly,
and at the battle of Glenlivat was completely defeated by them. He
afterwards engaged in suppressing an insurrection of the MacDonalds,
with whom his family had so long been at enmity, and distinguished
himself by repressive acts against those other neighbours, the
MacGregors, whom his family had for long been ousting, with the result
that he nearly exterminated them. He is suspected of having instigated
them to attack the Colquhouns, and after the battle of Glenfruin, it was
he who secured the MacGregor Chief by first fulfilling his promise to
convey him safely out of the country, and then, when he had crossed the
Border, arresting and bringing him back to Edinburgh to be tried and
executed. In his later years he went to Spain, became a Roman Catholic,
and took part in the wars of Philip II. against the States of Holland.

His son, Archibald, the
eighth Earl and first and last Marquess, for a time held supreme power
in Scotland. Known as Gillespie Grumach, and as the Glied or squinting
Marquess, he was at the head of the Covenanting Party, and had for his
great rival and opponent the Royalist Marquess of Montrose. In 1633 he
resigned into the hands of Charles I. the whole Justiciarship of
Scotland except that over his own lands, and in 1641 was raised to the
rank of Marquess of Argyll by that king. Nevertheless he was the chief
opponent of Charles in the Civil War in Scotland. In the field he was no
match for his brilliant opponent Montrose. At Kilsyth his army was
completely defeated, and at Inverlochy, where he took to his barge and
watched the battle from a safe distance, he saw the Royalist general cut
his army to pieces, and slay fifteen hundred of his clan. Among his acts
in the war was the burning of the "Bonnie House o’ Airlie,"
the home of Montrose’s follower, the chief of the Ogilvies; for which
act Montrose marched across the hills and gave Argyll’s own
stronghold, Castle Campbell in the Ochils above Dollar, to the flames.
When Montrose was at last defeated at Philiphaugh, the captured
Royalists were slain in cold blood in the courtyard of Newark Castle and
elsewhere, and when Montrose himself was captured later, Argyll watched
from a balcony in the Canongate as his enemy was led in rags up the
street to his trial and execution. Then Argyll sent the army of the
Covenant to destroy those old enemies of his family, the MacDonalds of
Kintyre, and the MacDougalls of Dunolly, slaughtering the three hundred
men of the garrison of Dunavertie, and burning the MacDougall
strongholds of Dunolly and Gylen, while in Cowal he plundered the lands
of the Lamonts, and had over two hundred of the clan butchered at Dunoon.
When the young Charles II. came to Scotland in 1651 Argyll himself
placed the crown on his head, and is said to have planned to get Charles
to marry his own daughter, Anne. But after Cromwell’s victory at
Dunbar he assisted in proclaiming him as Protector, and engaged to
support him. It could be no marvel, therefore, that at the Restoration
in 1660 Charles II. resisted his advances, and that he was presently
seized at Carrick Castle on Loch Goil, carried to Edinburgh, and tried
and beheaded for his acts.

James Campbell, a younger half-brother of
the Marquess, was created Earl of Irvine in 1642, but as he had no
family the peerage expired with him.

The Marquess’ son, Archibald, was
restored to the earldom and estates in 1663, but in 1663, having refused
to conform to the Test Act, he was condemned and imprisoned in Edinburgh
Castle. He made a romantic escape disguised as a page holding up the
train of his stepdaughter, Lady Sophia Lindsay. But four years later, in
concert with Monmouth’s invasion of England, he landed in Loch Fyne,
raised a force, and was marching upon Glasgow when, his force having
dispersed, he was seized, disguised, at Inchinnan in Renfrewshire, and
carried to execution at Edinburgh. A famous picture of the occasion
commemorates "the last sleep of Argyll."

Of the Earl’s four sons the second,
John Campbell of Mamore, was forfeited for taking part in his father’s
expedition, but had his forfeiture rescinded at the Revolution in 1689,
and represented Argyll in the Scottish Parliament in 1700 and Dunbarton
in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom. The third son, Charles,
forfeited and reinstated in the same way, represented Campbeltown in the
Parliament of 1700. He married Lady Sophia Lindsay, the stepdaughter who
had helped his father to escape from his first imprisonment in Edinburgh
Castle. The fourth son, James, of Burnbank and Boquhan, in 1690 forcibly
carried off Mary Wharton, an heiress of thirteen, and married her. The
marriage was annulled by Act of Parliament, and one of Campbell’s
accomplices, Sir John Johnston, Bart., of Caskieben, was executed at
Tyburn; but the chief perpetrator escaped to Scotland, to become a
colonel of dragoons and represent Campbeltown in Parliament. He
afterwards married the Hon. Margaret Leslie, daughter of Lord Newark.

Meanwhile the eldest son, Archibald, was
one of the commissioners sent to offer the crown to William of Orange.
The attainder against his father was reversed at the Revolution, and he
was by King William created Duke of Argyll, with remainder to his heirs
male whatsoever. He raised a Highland regiment which distinguished
itself in King William’s continental wars.

His son, John, the second Duke, was one
of the greatest men of his time. A rival of Marlborough in the
continental wars of Queen Anne, he commanded George I’s army at the
battle of Sheriffmuir in 1775, and through his energy and ability
preserved Scotland for that king. In 1719 he was made Duke of Greenwich,
and in 1735 Field-Marshal commanding all the forces of the kingdom. A
great statesman as well as a soldier, he is referred to by Pope:

"Argyll, the state’s
whole thunder born to wield,
And shake alike the senate and the field."

And it is he who figures
in Sir Walter Scott’s Heart of Midlothian, as the minister to
whom Jeanie Deans appeals to secure the pardon of her erring sister,
Effie. Among his honours he was a Knight of the Garter and a Knight of
the Thistle, and his monument remains in Westminster Abbey.

As the Duke had no son
his British titles died with him, and he was succeeded in the Scottish
honours by his brother, Archibald, Earl of Islay. The third Duke had
served under Marlborough and studied law at Utrecht. He became Lord High
Treasurer of Scotland in 1705 and promoted the Union with England. He
was made Lord Justice General in 1710, and Lord Register in 1714. He
raised Argyllshire for George I. and fought under his brother at
Sheriffmuir. He became Walpole’s chief adviser in Scotland, and keeper
successively of the privy seal and the great seal. For long he was the
greatest man in Scottish affairs, and it was he who rebuilt Inveraray
Castle on its present site. In his time the strength of the clan was
estimated at 5,000 fighting men, and it sent a contingent to fight
against Prince Charles Edward at Culloden.

After him the dukedom went to his cousin,
John Campbell of Mamore, son of the second son of the ninth earl. His
second son was killed at the battle of Langfeldt in 1747 and his third
son became Lord Clerk Register of Scotland. His eldest son, John, the
fifth Duke, married Elizabeth Gunning, widow of the sixth Duke of
Hamilton, one of the three sisters who were celebrated beauties at the
court of George III. She was the wife of two dukes, and the mother of
four, and was created Baroness Hamilton in her own right in 1776. Her
second and third sons by the Duke of Argyll became successively sixth
and seventh Dukes. The latter was a friend of Madame de Staël, who
pictured him as Lord Nevil in her famous novel, Corinne. His son,
George, the eighth Duke, was the distinguished statesman, orator,
scholar, and author of Queen Victoria’s time. Three times married, and
three times Lord Privy Seal, he also filled the offices of
Postmaster-General, Secretary for India, Chancellor of St. Andrew’s
University, and Trustee of the British Museum.

Among his honours he was
K.G., K.T., P.C., D.C.L., L.L.D., and F.R.S., and among his writings
were valuable works on science, religion, and politics. He bequeathed
lona Cathedral to the Church of Scotland.

He and his eldest son, John, the ninth
Duke, inherited much of the personal beauty of their ancestor, Elizabeth
Gunning, and when the latter in 1871 married H.R.H. the Princess Louise,
fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, the pair were as distinguished for
their fine looks as for their high rank. For ten years, as Marquess of
Lorne, he represented Argyllshire in the House of Commons, and for a
term he was Governor-General of Canada. He held many honours, and was
the author of some interesting literary works.

The present Duke, Niall Diarmid, is the
son of his next brother. His Grace is deeply interested in Highland
affairs, and faithful to all the traditions of a Highland Chief.

Apart from members of the
main Campbell line, members of the race have been famous in many arenas,
Thomas Campbell, the poet, was of the Kilmartin family, a Campbell of
Stonefield and a Campbell of Succoth have been Presidents of the Court
of Session. The Army, the Navy, politics, the Church, and probably most
other spheres of national service and distinction, have derived lustre
from members of this great clan, and round the world there is no name
better known than that of the sons of Diarmid of the Boar.

PROBABLY
no Highland family has been so prolific in cadet branches of distinction
as the great race of the Campbells. From the earliest date at which
authentic history dawns upon their race they are found multiplying and
establishing new houses throughout the land. At the present hour scions
of the name hold the earldoms of Cawdor and Loudon as well as the
baronies of Blythswood and Stratheden, and no fewer than seven separate
baronetcies. The steps in the growth of this great house are in every
generation full of interest, and involve in their narration no small
part of the romance of Scottish history.

The rise of the family began with
a fortunate marriage in the twelfth century. With the hand of Eva,
daughter of the O’Duibhne Chief, Gillespie Campbell acquired the
lordship of Lochow, and brought into his family the blood of the
Ossianic hero Diarmid of eight centuries earlier still. In 1280 Colin
Campbell, the chief of the name, was knighted by Alexander III. He was
the "Great

Colin from
whom the chiefs of the family of the later times have taken the name of
"MacCailein Mor." He fell in conflict with the MacDougals on
the Sraing of Lorne, and his body lies in the little kirkyard of
Kilchrennan, above Loch Awe. His eldest son was that Sir Nigel or Neil
Campbell who joined Robert the Bruce at the beginning of his great
struggle, and was rewarded with the hand of the king’s sister, and the
forfeited lands of the Earl of Atholl. His eldest son, again, the second
Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, helped the High Steward of Scotland,
afterwards King Robert II., to recover the Castle of Dunoon from the
adherents of Edward Baliol—the first stroke in the overthrow of that
adventurer; and in consequence was made hereditary governor of that
royal stronghold. His grandson, still another Sir Colin, married
Margaret, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall, and sister of
Annabella, Queen of Robert III., and, partly through this royal
connection his eldest son, Duncan, was made, first, Lord Lieutenant of
Argyll by his cousin James I., and in 1445 was raised to the peerage as
Lord Campbell by James II. He linked his family still more closely to
the royal house by marrying Lady Marjorie Stewart, daughter of Robert,
Duke of Albany, and granddaughter of King Robert II. On the death of his
eldest son, Celestine, at school, he begged a burying-place at Kilmun
from the Lamont Chief because the snows were too deep for the body to be
carried to Lochow; and from that time to this Kilmun has been the
burying-place of the Campbell chiefs.

While the main stem of the family was
carried on by Lord Campbell’s second son’s son, Colin, who became
1st Earl of Argyll in 1457, it was his third son, another Sir Colin, who
founded the greatest of all the branches of the Campbells, that of
Glenorchy and Glenfalloch, the head of which is now Earl of Breadalbane.
So well had the heads of the house improved their fortunes that Lord
Campbell was probably the richest noble in Scotland. When he became one
of the hostages for the redemption of James I. in 1424, his annual
revenue was stated to be fifteen hundred merks. He was well able,
therefore, to endow his third son with the lands of Glenorchy and
Glenfalloch in 1432.

Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy was one
of the ablest men of his time. As guardian of his nephew, afterwards
Earl of Argyll, he built for him the castle of Inveraray, and married
him to the eldest daughter and co-heir of John Stewart, Lord of Lorne.
He himself had married, first, Mariot, daughter of Sir Walter Stewart,
eldest son of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, grandson of Robert II.; and on
her death he married Margaret, the second daughter of the Lord of Lorne.
By these marriages uncle and nephew not only acquired between them the
great estates of the Stewart Lords of Lorne, but also placed upon their
shields the famous lymphad, or galley, which betokened descent from the
famous Somerled, Lord of the Isles.

Sir Colin, who was born about the year
1400, was a famous warrior, fought in Palestine, and was made a knight
of Rhodes. The tradition runs that while he was away his wife built for
him the castle of Kilchurn on its peninsula at the end of Loch Awe. He
was so long absent that it was said he was dead, and the lady, like
Penelope in the classic tale, was besieged by suitors. After long delays
a neighbouring baron, MacCorquodale, it is said, forced her to a
marriage. While the marriage feast was going on,
a beggar came to the door. He refused to drink the health of the bride
unless she herself handed him the cup. This she did, and as the beggar
drank and returned it she gave a cry, for in the bottom lay Sir Colin’s
signet ring. The beggar was Sir Colin himself, returned just in time to
rescue his wife.

After the assassination of James I. at
Perth, Glenurchy captured one of the assassins, Thomas Chalmer of Lawers,
on Loch Tay side, and as a reward he received a grant of the murderer’s
forfeited estate. His son and successor, Sir Duncan Campbell of
Glenurchy, further added to the importance of his family by acquiring
the estates of Glenlyon, Finlarig, and others on Loch Tay side. When he
married Margaret, daughter of George, fourth earl of Angus, in 1479, he
obtained with her a dowry of six hundred merks, and he fell with James
IV. at Flodden in 1513.

His eldest son and successor, again, Sir
Colin Campbell of Glenurchy, married Marjorie Stewart, daughter of John,
Earl of Atholl, half brother of James II., her mother being Margaret
Douglas, that Fair Maid of Galloway, who, as heiress of her ancient
house, played such a strange romantic part in the story of her time.

Sir Colin, the youngest of the three sons
who succeeded him, sat in the Scottish Parliament of 1560, and played an
active part in furthering the Reformation. Till his time the lands of
Breadalbane had belonged to the Carthusian Monastery at Perth founded by
James I. Sir Colin first obtained a tack of these lands, and afterwards
had them converted into a feu holding. He was a great builder of houses,
and besides a noble lodging in Perth erected Edinample on Loch Earn, and
in 1580 founded at the eastern end of Loch Tay the splendid family seat
of Balloch, now known as Taymouth Castle. The site of this stronghold is
said to have been settled in a curious way, Sir Colin being instructed
in a dream to found his castle on the spot where he should first hear
the blackbird sing on making his way down the strath. According to the
family history written in 1598 he also added the corner turrets to
Kilchurn Castle. Kilchurn and much of the other Breadalbane territory
had once been possessed by Clan Gregor, but when feudal tenures came in,
the chiefs of that clan had scorned to hold their land by what they
termed "sheep-skin rights," and elected to continue holding
them by the ancient "coir a glaive," or right of the sword. As
a result, when disputes arose they had no documents to show; the effort
to vindicate their claims by
the power of the sword got them into trouble; and the Campbells and
other neighbours easily procured against them powers of reprisal which
in the end led to the conquest and transference of most of the MacGregor
territory. Sir Walter Scott put the plight and feelings of the clansmen
concisely in his famous lament:

Accordingly we find in
the Breadalbane family history that Sir Colin "was ane greate
Justiciar all his tyme, throch the quhilk he sustenit that deidly feid
of the Clan Gregor ane lang space. And besydis that, he causit execute
to the death mony notable lymmars, and beheided the Laird of Mac Gregor
himself at Keanmoir, in presence of the Erle of Atholl, the Justice
Clerk, and sundrie uther nobillmen."

Sir Duncan Campbell, the
eldest son and successor of this redoubtable chief, is remembered in
popular tradition by the names of "Black Duncan," or
"Duncan with the cowl." Like his father he added greatly to
his family possessions by acquiring feus of the church lands which were
then extensively in the market as a result of the Reformation. At the
same time he was perhaps the most enlightened landowner of his age. At
any rate he was the first of Highland lairds to turn attention to rural
improvement. Among other matters he was a great planter of trees, and
also compelled his tenants to plant them. Many of the noble trees which
still surround his stronghold of Finlarig, at the eastern end of Loch
Tay, were no doubt of his planting. Like his father also he was a
notable builder of strongholds, and besides Taymouth, Edinample, and
Strathfillan, he possessed Finlarig, Loch Dochart, Achalader, and
Barcaldine. From this partiality he obtained the further sobriquet of
"Duncan of the Castles." When he began to build Finlarig
someone is said to have asked why he was placing it at the edge of his
property, and he is said to have replied, in characteristic Campbell
fashion, that he meant to "birse yont." He was knighted by
James I. in 1590; was made heritable keeper of the forest of Mamlorn in
1617, and afterwards Sheriff of Perth for life. Finally, when the order
of Baronets of Nova Scotia began to be created in 1625, he was one of
the first to have the dignity conferred upon him. His first wife was
Jean, daughter of John Stewart, Earl of Atholl, Chancellor of Scotland,
and a few years ago the effigies of the pair were discovered on the
under side of two stones which for centuries had been used as a
footbridge across a ditch at Finlarig. At Finlarig are also still to be
seen the gallows tree and the fatal pit in the courtyard, to which
prisoners came from the Castle dungeon by an underground passage, to be
gazed at by the laird’s retainers before placing their head in the
hollow at the side still to be seen, to be lopped off by the
executioner. The heading axe of these terrible occasions was till 1922
preserved among other interesting relics at Taymouth Castle. Since 1508
the chapel at Finlarig has been the burying-place of the chiefs of the
house.

Black Duncan’s eldest son and
successor, Sir Colin, was a patron of the fine arts, and encouraged the
painter Jameson, the "Scottish Vandyck." His brother Robert,
who succeeded him as third Baronet, and was previously known as "of
Glenfalloch," represented Argyllshire in the Scottish parliaments
of 1643, 1646, and 1647, the period of the civil wars of Charles I. and
the exploits of the Marquess of Montrose.

This chief, the third baronet of
Glenurchy, had by his two wives a family of no fewer than fifteen, of
whom more anon. Meanwhile his eldest son’s son, Sir John Campbell,
fifth baronet of Glenorchy, was to make history in more ways than one,
both for his family and for the country. From his swarthy complexion he
was known as Ian Glas. He was a clever and unscrupulous politician, and
it was said of him that he was "cunning as a fox, wise as a
serpent, and slippery as an eel." By his first wife, the Lady Mary
Rich, daughter of the first Earl of Holland, beheaded in 1649, he
received a dowry of £10,000, and it is said that after the marriage in
1657 he conveyed her from London to the Highlands in simple fashion, the
lady riding on a pillion behind her lord, while her marriage portion,
which he made sure was paid in coin, was carried on the back of a strong
gelding, guarded on each side by a sturdy, well-armed Highlander. It was
probably this money which helped him to one of the most notable actions
of his career. At any rate it appears that among other investments he
lent large sums of money to George, sixth Earl of Caithness. The
Sinclairs have stories to tell, which may or may not be true, as to
questionable methods by which these burdens of the Earl of Caithness
were increased. One is that Charles II. obtained the earl’s security
for large sums, and then pledged it with Glenurchy. In any case in 1572
the Earl of Caithness found his debts overwhelming, and, being pressed
by Glenurchy as his chief creditor, conveyed to him in wadset the whole
property and titles of the Earldom, the possession of which was to
become absolute if not redeemed within six years. The redemption did not
take place, and on the death of the Earl, Glenurchy procured from the
king in 1677, in right of his wadset, a new charter to the lands and
title of Earl of Caithness. The heir to the Earldom also claimed the
title and estates, and Glenurchy proceeded under legal sanction to
enforce his rights by strength of arms. For this purpose he sent his
kinsman, Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, with a strong body of men,
into the north. The Sinclairs also gathered in armed force, and the two
parties came face to face, with a stream between them. Glenlyon is said
by the Sinclairs to have used the strategy of sending a convoy of strong
waters where he knew it would be captured by the Sinclairs, and at
night, when the latter had enjoyed themselves not wisely but too well,
the Camphells marched across the stream and utterly routed them. It was
on this occasion that the Campbell piper composed the famous pibroch of
the clan "Bodach na Briogais," the Lad of the Breeches, in
ridicule of the Sinclairs, who wore that garment; and it is the event
which is commemorated in the famous song "The Campbells are
Coming." In the end, however, by the legitimate heir, George
Sinclair of Keiss, the Campbells were driven out of the country, and
Charles II., being at length persuaded of the injustice of his action,
induced Glenurchy to drop the Caithness title, and compensated him in
1681 by creating him Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, with a number of
minor dignities. Cunning as ever, Glenurchy procured the right to leave
his titles to whichever of his sons by his first wife he should think
proper to designate, and in the end, as a matter of fact, he passed over
the elder of the two, Duncan, Lord Ormelie, who eventually died
unmarried ten years after his father.

Glenurchy’s first wife died in 1666,
and twelve years later Glenurchy, probably by way of strengthening his
claim to the Caithness title, married Mary, Countess Dowager of
Caithness. This lady was the third daughter of the notorious Archibald,
Marquess of Argyll, who, strangely enough, like the father of Glenurchy’s
first wife, had been beheaded after the Restoration.

Possibly Breadalbane was inspired by his
father-in-law’s example to adopt sinister methods. At any rate we know
that he was the chief mover in the transaction known in history as the Massacre
of Glencoe. In this transaction he showed his usual cunning. Glencoe
appeared a desirable addition to the estate. So also did Glenlyon. He
had left Campbell of Glenlyon to bear the expense of the great Caithness
expedition, and he now took advantage of Glenlyon’s impecuniosity to
induce him to act as his catspaw in the affair of Glencoe. In that
affair Glenlyon had also a personal revenge to satisfy, for the
MacDonalds of Glencoe, on their way home after the battle of
Killiecrankie, had raided and thoroughly destroyed his lands. At any
rate it was Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, with a company of
Campbells, who carried out the notorious massacre. What his feelings
towards his chief may have been at a later day we do not know, when,
upon riding into Edinburgh to redeem a wadset on his lands of Glenlyon
only in the nick of time, he encountered his kinsman and chief in the
act of closing the wadset and ousting him from his heritage. Such a
personage was Ian Glas, first Earl of Breadalbane and Holland. The wily
old chief lived till 1717. Two years before his death he sent 500 of his
followers to join the Jacobite rising of the Earl of Mar, but escaped
without serious consequences of the act.

Curiously enough as a result of the
massacre Highland superstition has associated a curse with the house
both of the prime mover Breadalbane and with that of his agent, Glenlyon.
Sir Walter Scott tells the story of how at a later day a Campbell of
Glenlyon was the officer in command of a firing party entrusted with the
carrying out of the death sentence of a court martial. The intention was
to reprieve the culprit, but the reprieve was not to be made known to
the latter till the very moment of execution. Glenlyon had arranged that
the signal to fire should be his drawing his white handkerchief from his
pocket. When all was ready, and the firing party was in position, he put
his hand into his pocket to produce the reprieve. Unfortunately his
handkerchief came with it. This was taken by the soldiers as the
appointed signal, the muskets rang out, and the prisoner fell. At that
Glenlyon is said to have struck his forehead with his hand, exclaiming,
"I am an unfortunate ruined man; the curse of God and Glenlyon is
here! " and forthwith to have retired from the service.

The second Earl of Breadalbane was Lord
Lieutenant of Perthshire and a representative peer. In his time occurred
the Jacobite rising of 1745, when it was reckoned that the Earl could
put a thousand men into the field. The third Earl was a Lord of the
Admiralty and an ambassador to the Danish and Russian courts. By his
third wife the Earl had a son John, Lord Glenorchy, who died before him
childless in 1771. His widow Willielma, daughter and co-heir of William
Maxwell of Preston, was the famous Lady Glenorchy whose peculiar
religious views induced her to found chapels for her followers in
Edinburgh, Carlisle, Matlock and Strathfillan.

On the death of the third Earl himself in
1782, the male line of the notorious Ian Glas became extinct. The
patent, however, included heirs male general, and the peerage
accordingly went to a grandson of Colin of Mochaster, third son of Sir
Robert Campbell, third baronet of Glenorchy. This grandson, John
Campbell, succeeded as fourth Earl of Breadalbane. He was Major-General
and a representative peer, and was made Marquess of Breadalbane and Earl
of Ormelie in 1806. His only son, John, was, according to Peter Drummond
of Perth (Perthshire in Bygone Days), the hero of a curious
romance. While a student at Glasgow University he fell in love with Miss
Logan, daughter of Walter Logan of Fingalton, near Airdrie, and partner
in the firm of Logan and Adamson, who lived in West George Street, the
ground floor of the house now occupied by Messrs. Paterson’s music
warehouse. The young lady was a great toast and strikingly handsome.
Every time she entered the Theatre Royal in Queen Street it is said the
audience rose to a man and cheered wildly. Alas, however, the match was
considered unsuitable and was broken off, and the lady died unmarried in
1856.

Lord John meanwhile had succeeded as
second Marquess and fifth Earl on the death of his father in 1834, and
became a Knight of the Thistle, a Knight of the Black Eagle of Prussia,
Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire, and president of the Royal Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland. In his time Queen Victoria paid her famous
first visit to Scotland, and on that occasion was entertained at
Taymouth with the most splendid hospitality. With huntings and Highland
games by day and feastings and balls at night, the royal entertainment
was "more like the dreams of romance than reality."

The Marquess died without issue at
Lausanne in 1862, when there ensued one of the most famous peerage cases
on record. The Earldom was claimed by John Alexander Gavin Campbell of
Glenfalloch, as great great-grandson of William, fifth son of Sir Robert
Campbell, third baronet of Glenorchy. There was, however, a question as
to his legitimacy. His grandfather, it appeared, a younger son of the
Glenfalloch of his time, had, while an officer in the army, run away
with the wife of an apothecary at Bath, and though the apothecary
presently died, it was questioned whether a union so begun could
afterwards be accepted as legitimated by a Scottish marriage and so
legitimize the offspring of the union. Glenfalloch’s claim to the
Earldom was accordingly disputed by the representative of his
grandfather’s younger brother, Campbell of Borland. In the end,
however, it was shown that the gay young officer and the lady of Bath
had been received at Glenfalloch by the young officer’s father and
mother, who were strict in their religious views, and unlikely to have
countenanced the lady unless they regarded her as really their son’s
wife. The House of. Lords accordingly decided in favour of Glenfalloch’s
claim, and he became sixth Earl of Breadalbane. His eldest son, the late
head of the house, who succeeded in 1871, held several high positions in
the royal household. He was a Lord-in-Waiting from 1873 to 1874,
Treasurer of the household 1880-5, Lord Steward of the household 1892-5,
also A.D.C. to the King and Lord High Commissioner to the General
Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1893-4-5. He was created Baron
Breadalbane in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1873, and advanced
to the Earldom of Ormelie and Marquessate of Breadalbane in 1885. He was
also a Knight of the Garter and a Privy Councillor, and was Keeper of
the Privy Seal of Scotland from 1907. He married in 1872 Lady Alma
Graham, youngest daughter of the fourth Duke of Montrose. In 1921, when,
in the stringency after the great war, many of the great landowners of
Scotland parted with their estates, he disposed of Taymouth Castle, the
town of Aberfeldy, and the lands at the lower end of Loch Tay. On the
Marquess’s death in 1922 he was succeeded in the Earldom and older
titles by his nephew, lain E. H. Campbell, but that nephew himself died
in May, 1923. At his death it was discovered that he had been married
for seven years. Should he have no son the titles and estates will
devolve upon the former competitor’s son, Captain Charles W. Campbell
of Borland.

Authentic Campbell Tartans

According to a letter from 12th Duke of
Argyll, MacCailein More, there are only four authentic tartans:

"To summarize, then, just four setts
are authorized Campbell tartans: 'Ancient' or 'Campbell', Campbell of
Breadalbane, Campbell of Cawdor, and Campbell of Loudoun. To be faithful
to Scottish tradition, only those descended from the Houses of
Breadlbane, Cawdor and Loudoun should wear the tartans belonging to
those houses; all other Campbells and members of other Campbell septs
should wear 'ancient' or Campbell tartans, which is composed of threads
of only three colours: blue, green and black, with no overstripes of any
other colour."

Ancient Campbell is the same as Black
Watch tartan. Indeed, as Alastair Campbell of Airds Yr., Chief Executive
of Clan Campbell, the Black Warch tartan may well have been adopted as
the clan's tartan because so many members of the clan were already
wearing it, owing to their service in the regiment.

The Black Watch tartan today is usually
made in darker shades of green and blue, while Ancient Campbell is made
in lighter, brighter shades. Some Campbells wear the lighter Ancient
Campbell for day wear and the darker Black Watch for evening and 'formal
wear' - the important point being that they are the same tartan.
Remember, it is the "sett," or thread count, of a tartan that
distinguishes it from other tartans, not the comparative lightness or
darkness of their colours, which in early days could vary greatly due to
the unpredictable nature of vegetable dyes. So, caveat emptor:
before you buy anything purporting to be Ancient Campbell or Black Watch
tartan, be sure it has the correct sett, with first one pair of
black "tramlines" on the blue, and then two pair, then one
pair, and so on.

For further authoritative information on
Campbell tartans, including colour illustrations of the four authentic
tartans, consult Campbell Tartan, by Alastair Campbell of Airds,
Yr., available from The Clan Campbell Society (North America) store
whose address is in the CCS(NA) Journal.